John Chenoweth: “I rise tonight to speak with you about an issue that is taking place with regards to the activities of the Bureau of…”

“I rise tonight to speak with you about an issue that is taking place with regards to the activities of the Bureau of Land Management and the Rangeland Reform Act that is now pending before the committees here in the House and in the Senate. Shockingly the Bureau of Land Management, Mr. Babbitt, and the Clinton administration have ordered a communications plan designed to discredit the Livestock Grazing Act before committee hearings were even held on the act and before the legislation has been finalized. It is obvious, Mr. Speaker, that through this action the Clinton administration has no desire to work with Congress on grazing issues so important to our lifestyle, our culture, our economic base, and our way of life in the West. Mr. Speaker, the job of the Bureau of Land Management is very plain and simply to carry out the laws passed by Congress, not to use taxpayer dollars to lobby the media or attempt to write their own laws. Mr. Speaker, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in the State of Nevada published in local newspapers a lobbying effort against this particular action. I am, Mr. Speaker, calling on the Bureau of Land Management to immediately cease spending taxpayer money to spread false and misleading information to the public on the Public Rangeland Management Act.”